MEXICO CITY, Aug 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Mexico's ruling left-wing coalition won
large majorities in Congress, the country's elections authority confirmed on
Friday, potentially enabling it to enact controversial constitutional reforms
that have prompted US worries.

The bloc led by the Morena party of popular outgoing president Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador will have 364 of the 500 seats for the next three years in the
lower chamber, more than the two-thirds majority needed to amend the
constitution, according to the final distribution of seats after the June 2
elections.

In the Senate it will have 83 of 128 seats, three votes short of the two-
thirds supermajority -- though analysts believe it can easily obtain votes to
make up the difference.

The new parliament will convene on September 1.

With its enlarged majority, Morena and its allies will seek to push through
23 constitutional reforms that Lopez Obrador hopes to leave as a legacy to
his predecessor and fellow party member, Claudia Sheinbaum, when she takes
office on October 1.

Sheinbuam, who will be the country's first woman president, won a landslide
victory in the June 2 elections, but shortly afterward the Mexican stock
market and currency saw a sharp decline over investor worries about the
proposed reforms.

Chief among them is a plan to overhaul the judiciary by directly electing
judges, in the name of the fight against corruption and privilege.

In her first press conference after the election, Sheinbaum pledged a "broad
consultation" on the proposals, saying it would include bar associations, law
schools and judges.

The United States -- Mexico's largest trade partner by far -- has expressed
worries that the reform could threaten bilateral trade relations and investor
confidence in Mexico's legal framework, and represented a risk for democracy
in Mexico.

US ambassador Ken Salazar on Thursday warned that the judicial reform could
help cartels to influence inexperienced judges.

Canada, the third country in a major free trade partnership with the United
States and Mexico, has also said its investors have concerns.

In Mexico's Congress, 300 seats in the lower chamber and 96 senators are
elected directly.

The rest are divvied out proportionally, according to results in five
electoral regions. On Friday, the National Electoral Institute (INE)
certified the final distribution of seats.

Some analysts and opposition party members believe the ruling party is "over-
represented," pointing to the fact that Morena and its allies obtained 54
percent of the total vote but received 73 percent of seats.

The parties have until August 28 to appeal the INE's decision to the Federal
Electoral Tribunal.